Jordan will need to increase its oil imports from Iraq for the year 2002, Jordanian Energy Minister Mohammad Batayneh said Tuesday, October 30 before leaving for Baghdad.

"The Jordanian-Iraqi oil protocol for the year 2002 will increase by five to 10 pecent, given Jordan's growth in oil demand," Batayneh said, quoted by the official Petra news agency ahead of his departure to Iraq for a visit of several days.

"My visit to Baghdad will be based on this matter," the minister said before adding "the Jordanian and Iraqi parties are already agreed on the main lines of the new oil project for the year 2002."

Iraq supplies Jordan with all its oil. That accounts for five million tons of crude this year, against 4.8 million for the previous year -- half of which is free, with the other half at a discount, as part of protocol outside the UN sanctions imposed on Baghdad for the last 11 years. In return, Amman can export consumer goods worth $450 million to Baghdad in line with another trade protocol between the two countries. — (AFP, Amman)